Episode85
To The Reaver Proto-Galaxy and Back Again We picked things up with the Party deep in the bowels of the ancient Farenhiem Field Generator base on Kong with the Reaver Nanites safely in-hand, but local security forces en-route. After a brief celebration of our 'epicness' at defusing the severely booby-trapped Reaver Nanite threat we figured it was time to leave before things got messy with the locals. Oz cast a clever illusion of a hostage and a 'reaver tinged' bomb scenario to delay them, while Kiwi did his 'god-sight' thing, then opened a portal to allow us to beam away. Unfortunately, the Kongites had found the Security Door Pete had previously Hacked open and closed it, leaving Kiwi unable to Portal through the Base's PR. Instead we beamed to the safety of a nearish-by broom closet. God-Sighting about in search of an Exit, Kiwi Spied a group of guards who looked like they were headed somewhere urgently. Our guess; it was another reaver nanite bomb, so we emerged in full stealth mode and shadowed them through the base. After following them for a while though, we realized that to go further would mean that we could not leave before the bomb's original-but-now-defused countdown had expired. It was a tough call, since leaving might damn Kong to the Reaver's, but staying might mean we would be pulled along with them into Reaver hell, and delay us from synthesizing an antidote to the Planetnapping Nanites. Ultimately, we decided to retreat, (Oros Merging Inorganic up through the bottom of the Base to pick us up), since we couldn't be sure that we even knew of all the bombs. This proved to be a wise decision for shortly after we fled the system the entire planet was bubble-wrapped and transported away! As it turned out, there were in fact EIGHT bombs on Kong, so even if we stayed it would not have been enough. Unfortunate for the Kongites however. Returning sadly to Veilos, we were faced with the conundrum of knowing that the Reavers were going to steal the Planet, (OK, the entire Veil Nebula), in a little less than 4 hours, but that it would take at least two 4-Hour Blocks to research and then produce an antidote! While we contemplated our options, No. 1 activated his evacuation protocols, first moving all non-combatants to the Ark, then moving the Ark out of the Veil to a safe distance at the last minute. It was also at this time that Oz enacted his 'family escape plan' that saw his daughters safely away, (under Purrina's protection), from Veilos to the estates of a family friend. Uxia was not happy, but she would have been less happy if they had stayed to endure what was to come. Meanwhile, we came up with a desperate solution to Save the Veil; using his broken Trans-Dimensional 3 Hour Block Ability, Pete would just have time to lead a Star Miracle to phase Veilos City temporarily into a Trans-Dimensional state where it would be immune to Reaving! Doing so would buy enough time for Joe and Kiwi to finish the counter-nanite tech, (and as the Reaver-Nanites were an exotic blend of 'mystech', both had important insights to provide). It wasn't easy pulling together a major miracle on such short notice, but thankfully Oz had recently organized the biggest miracle in known history, so he still had a warm rolodex of Gineer faithful. Rolling a critical success certainly ensured that we mobilized the largest congregation available, including all of the Fisters and most of the Progenitors. Even Mariana showed up long enough to harangue us for changing the Timeline again! Pete's level 29 Orb-Lore sure proved to be a good investment, as he expertly led the Gineer Faithful in the execution of the Trans-Dimensional City Phasing Miracle, and just in the nick of time too! As we expected, the Reavers quickly overcame the perimeter defenses and bubble-wrapped the Veil, (Note: Joe's weak Luck Save was directly responsible!). All of us, including everyone still on Veilos, were mercilessly sucked into the Reaver Proto-Galaxy! All the Fisters were immediately hit with an overwhelming assault on our Reaver Senses caused by exposure to the hordes of Reavers now swarming towards the planet. Almost everybody managed to resist the noxous effect, but this reporter won't dwell on that because of how Oz wet himself and curled up on the floor crying like a baby. Fortunately Pete was there to keep the Miracle on-track, or everybody would've been horribly Reaved for sure! On the plus side, the massive wave of Reavers that immediately descended on the planet triggered the big Reaver Light Trap miracle that we had set, which went off and killed literally millions of the fuckers! Much to our dismay, however, there were many more ready to fill their place, including a slightly singed and extremely pissed-off looking ultra massive Reaver Dragon, all tricked out in Tree Metal upgrades! The massive Reaver Dragon was none other than Yaw himself, eager to feast on our souls. He was at least a thousand times bigger than any dragon we had seen before. The people of Veilos would have stood no chance against him without our miracle. It kept a city-sized pocket 'out of phase' and away from his evil clutches. Much to his dismay this also included the Star. This frustrated Yaw immensely, and he took his anger out on the unprotected remainder of the planet, killing any poor souls unfortunate enough to be caught outside the protection bubble and frying most of the surface while we watched in horror from our miracle pocket. Much to the credit of the Veilos people, such unabashed destruction served only to increase their resolve! After an agonizing 5 hours of watching the destruction of our home world, Joe and Kiwi finished their research and determined how to pop the abduction bubble, (as well as howto prevent the 'bubble-wrapping' of additional worlds). As soon as the counter-tech was ready, we popped the bubble and instantly reappeared in the Veilos system back in our own galaxy! As we feared might happen, though, Yaw was also transported back with us, and he wasn't happy. Still unable to reach the Star or anyone in the miracle-pocket, he now turned his attention toward the Ark, which was loaded with the huddled masses of the Veilos refugees that had fled earlier. Also of concern was the fact that Yaw had apparently burned off the entire atmosphere of the planet, so as soon as we beamed back into normal space anyone who needed to breathe began to suffocate. We immediately started an Orb-Lore to transform the Phase Bubble into an Atmosphere Bubble, but it was readily apparent that we would need the entire group to maintain it. At this point we were faced with another 'Righteous Ratio' choice: have all the Fisters pull out, (sorry, "withdraw"), from the Miracle to try & protect the Ark, (even though we knew that this would leave approximately 30% of the people on the planet to die), or watch the Ark and all of the Non-Combatants on-board get Reaved. Reluctantly, we decided that we had to rescue the Ark if we were to maintain any hope of saving the multiverse, as 01's mastery of the Gate Network is critical to our end game Final Solution. Also, sacrificing Combatants to save Non-Combatants probably felt better than Vice Versa, (?). Thus decided, Kiwi dropped a Portal to Oros and we burst out at FTL speed to intercept Yaw before he could vaporize the Ark with his ridiculous Breath Weapon. Combining our Righteous Gazes Wrathfully together, we fired a massive Team-Fister Gaze at Yaw just in time to counter his attack! Like something out of Harry Potter, both groups were momentarily stymied with massive light vs dark energy spewing forth between us. Neither side could gain an advantage, but Yaw must have sensed now was not the time to press his luck, so he opened a Reaver Portal and fled back to the Proto-Galaxy, (?). We had won the day, but at terrible cost. Veilos was in ruins and a third of its people lay suffocated on the surface. Knowing that we had to press on if we were going to save the Mutiverse though, we started into the next 4-Hour Block. Pete Focused his efforts on making sure that the Anti-Planet Abduction Technology was immediately distributed across the Galaxy, (maybe this will be held in his favor at the upcoming war crimes tribunal?). We also did some brain-storming on exactly how we are supposed to get a Cleansing Prism lodged into Yaw, as getting past his fucktardedly huge Soul-Skin seems to be the major weakness in our current plan. In between suggestions from the rest of the group as to how they could scapegoat Pete for all of the various Genocides that we have recently committed, we hearkened back to the end of chapter 2, when we Fully Penetrated the Reaver Mothership and slayed it from the inside by squailing its heart. We wondered if such an approach would again be the best way to deal with such an immense foe? Using insights gleaned from our recent encounter with Yaw, and after some inspired Reaver-and/or-Prophesy-Loring we came up with a new plan: Fly Oros into the giant Reaver Dragon's mouth while it is inhaling in preparation to unleash its Breath Weapon, then hang a sharp left at Albuquerque and fly up into it's Sinuses. Assuming we don't get vaporized, then it should just be a quick Merge Organic hop into his Brain, where we find something squishy, (Prophesy Guide my Hand!) to stick a Prism into, followed up by the Gaze of Wrathful Righteousness, destroying all of the Reavers and restoring balance to the Multiverse. Seems pretty Cut & Dried at this point, but I guess we should bother playing it out since Amar seems to have put so much effort into the Campaign? 44 Generic 11 Academic for the Logger Back to Space Junk Log